5 Steps to Tarot Superstardom!: Court cards

Hello again, Tarot Superstars! Our fourth step is going to have us all becoming a combination of profilers and psychologists. We are looking at how to understand the court cards. Even for a seasoned reader the court cards can be challenging. Never fear though as this step aims to develop not only your Tarot reading skills but your people reading skills too! There are two parts to this exercise. If you have already completed Step 3 then you will be familiar with the second stage to this step. These exercises have been designed to be done in no particular order but you do need to complete all five no matter what order you do them in to get the maximum benefit from them. Ready to begin?

Step 4 Part 1: Getting to know you: Remove the court cards from your deck. Shuffle these and the pick one at random. Turn it right side up. Spend as long as you like with this card. Think about the personality traits that you would associate with the kind of person depicted in the card. For example, let’s say you have picked the Queen of Wands. Traditional interpretations of this card are a fire sign woman, someone warm, outgoing and due to the cat which is usually pictured with her, a lover of animals. What would you add to that?

Write down all the qualities you can think of – including any negative ones that also come up. Remember, each card has a positive and negative interpretation. Also, none of us are perfect. If we were we would not be here! We all have personality traits we may be trying to change or work on. If we go back to the Queen of Wands for a moment what might be hers? She may be headstrong and impulsive for example and may rush in without thinking of the consequences of her actions. She may be forthright and truthful but she may also be tactless and blunt at times.

She may come across as very independent and does this work for her or against her? Does she give the impression she doesn’t need anyone when in fact this may not be the case? Above all, play close attention if the card you have drawn is one you would use as a significator for yourself as anything you write most likely applies to you!

Step 4 – Part 2: Going Deeper: If you own multiple decks – at least three more, then now go get them and take out the same court card from each of the decks. If you don’t own that many then it is time to jump onto the internet and Google the court card you have drawn. In this case you would type in ‘Queen of Wands’ and click on Images.

Compare the Queen of Wands card from three other decks with the one you have drawn. Based on these, what additional information do these cards have to tell you about this kind of woman? Try to pick decks that are very diverse for this part of the exercise as this will give you the maximum amount of insight into this personality type.

Now, when you are ready and based on everything you have been able to draw from these cards about this type of person’s character and qualities, imagine them in a specific situation. This can even be one you are in at the moment. What would they do? How would they react? Would they call on their strengths or give in to a weakness? Would they make a good decision or a bad one? And if you have used an issue you are facing as an example – how does this help you with how to proceed?

The wonderful thing about this exercise is that it not only helps you give in-depth readings when you have a client who is the same personality type, it can assist you with your own problem solving as you can ‘tune in’ to how others would deal with the same issue and in doing so come up with solutions that might now have occurred to you otherwise. And in your everyday life and transactions, when you come across these kinds of people you have the insight into their motivation and behaviour that allows you to forge better connections – or at least handle someone who is being difficult much more effectively than you might have done otherwise.

Repeat this exercise as often as you like with as many of the court cards as you like as the better you get to know them, the better you will know yourself and others.